Where I buy wine:  Living in the Triangle in North Carolina, I buy wine at local outlets in Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh. Wines for my wine classes at Duke (see BE's Bio) come primarily from A Southern Season in Chapel Hill and The Wine Merchant in Raleigh, and Chapel Hill Wine Shop. I also like its sister store, Hillsborough Wine Shop (good, friendly service at both!) as well as Whole Foods and the bold new concept retail wine at Durham's new wine shop, Wine Authorities. Also fun to browse the wine-stuffed aisles at Total Wine, which boasts the broadest selection in the area.
 
 
 
 

Headed to Napa Valley?  Schedule a visit to Copia, a spectacular wine and food center in the town of Napa at the southern end of the valley. On a recent visit I had an excellent lunch at Copia's lovely restaurant, Julia's Kitchen (named for our late first lady of food, Julia Child). Copia features tastings by various sized portions of some truly outstanding wines, American and imported--such as the three Pinot Noirs I sampled while there, one a premier cru from Burgundy, one from Oregon and one from California. A fascinating comparison. There are also wine classes, special events, videos to watch and virtual tours of winegrowing and winemaking operations--all of it fun and informative. Take time also to stroll through the extensive organic herb and vegetable gardens.    For more information:   visit Copia.org Headed to D.C.?   By all means, have lunch or dinner at one of the Capitol's most dynamic spots:  Zaytinya, a Mediterranean restaurant with Lebanese leanings. Located at the corner of G and 9th St, it is so bright and lively that it just feels good to be there. Dramatic modern decor, airy and spacious, casual ambience. The food is excellent and for me, who loves the foods of the eastern Mediterranean, it was delight at every bite, from the zippy little deep-friend smelt to braised lamb with puréed eggplant. Dozens of small dishes to share. Piquant stuffed squash blossoms may soon be out of season, but wild mushrooms will be coming on....and don't miss the side dish Labneh, the most delectable rendering of yogurt I've ever tasted!  So rich, thick and smooth with just the right tang. The large, attractive bar area quite popular with District sophisticates, I hear. Zaytinya, 701 9th Street NW (Pepco Bldg),  (202) 638-0800

GREAT MATCH-UPS!
Grilled sausages and juicy reds or...  Whole Foods selection of toothsome sausages are terrific grilled. I have them often--over pasta or pilaf or with mustard potato salad--lamb and feta, chicken and roast red pepper. There's a nifty range to savor. With them I like juicy reds, the likes of Rioja crianzas or Jumilla, chilled Beaujolais-Villages, Dolcetto, or a good but not-too-heavy Shiraz. Or, in warmer weather I'll choose one of the fresh, young, tasty dry rosés now streaming onto the market for summer--look for 2005s from the south of France, the Rhône, Argentina, California.

Wine Glasses:  Not to be a snob about it--I often drink wine, reds mostly, in short tumblers; thin glass rather than thick, of course--wine tastes better in thin.  Glasses are important, however, especially for fine wine.  The master glassmaker is Austria's Riedel, a centuries old firm that has perfected the correlation of glass shape to type of wine, and produced a stellar glass for each. Numerous taste tests have proven the difference a glass makes, many of which I have participated in. Riedel glasses are exquisite and expensive, definitely worth having if you can afford it. Stores and shops like The Wine Merchant in Raleigh regularly have comparison tastings, and offer specials from time to time.
     Other glassmakers have taken note and come up with some very good designs. At the January S.F. Chronicle tasting in Sonoma, all of the glasses used for tasting blind were Schott Zwiesel's new Forte line -- lead-free titanium glasses that are thin and elegant but definitely dishwasher-safe, since the thousands of glasses used for the wine competition were washed and re-washed and seemed to come through fine. General price range for the Bordeaux, Burgundy or Chardonnay Forte glasses is around $55 for boxes of 6.

CHILL IT!
Many light red wines, such as Beaujolais, Bardolino, Chinon and lighter Pinot Noirs are often more appealing served on the cool side--and not just in summer. I also cool down the lighter red Zinfandels and inexpensive Merlots--as long as they're fruity and not tannic (chilled tannin tastes bitter). Thirty to forty-five or so minutes in the fridge will do it.

DECANT IT!
A quick way to soften stiff young reds that are a bit tannic is to pour them into a carafe--with flourish if you can manage it so they'll mix with a lot of air and open up faster.  You can either decant them back into the bottle (young reds won't have thrown sediment) or leave them in the new vessel and pour from there.  It works great for young Cabernets, Syrahs, Zinfandels, though it's no substitute for aging with serious reds that need ten years or more to mature.

Another reason to decant is with older red wines that have "thrown" sediment as they mature.  Any red that is 10 years or older may have sediment. Vintage Port definitely will!  The day before you plan to serve it, stand it upright so the sediments can sink to the bottom of the bottle. Shortly before serving, carefully uncork the wine trying not to disturb the sediment. Using a lighted candle or a flashlight as light source, pour the wine into a decanter or carafe with the light source under the neck of the bottle. Pour in one continuous stream until you see the dark line of sediment move into the neck of the bottle; stop pouring immediately.  Swish the wine around in the decanter to aerate it further and serve.

CHEESE!
People in my wine classes know my first recommendation for cheese to serve with wine:   goat cheese, chèvre in French. Goat cheese shows off just about any wine--whites (especially sauvignon blanc or fumé blanc), reds (especially Rhône varietals and Pinot Noir), dry rosés, even Ports such as Cockburn's Reserve or the Late Bottled Vintage Ports on the market now, though Stilton is still the prime choice for Vintage Port and a nutty hard cheese for Tawny, or perhaps a creamy blue.

>>> And thanks to Lars Hoiby of Oslo for reminding me about the glories of Roquefort, genuine French Roquefort with its creamy texture and salty intensity, and Sauternes, the powerful late-harvest white wine from Bordeaux.  Sauternes's  intense honeyed apricot flavors are the perfect foil for the unique French cheese.

Got a question about matching food and wine--or any aspect of wine, in fact--email queries to:   b_e@bewinewise.com